Polymer-Based Filter Successfully Cleans Water, Recovers Oil in Gulf of Mexico Test
In response to the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, a University of Pittsburgh engineering professor has developed a technique for separating oil from water via a cotton filter coated in a chemical polymer that blocks oil while allowing water to pass through. The researcher reports that the filter was successfully tested off the coast of Louisiana and shown to simultaneously clean water and preserve the oil.
There is a discussion of the oil disperants being used in the Gulf of Mexico by BP here – Oil Dispersant ( the science behind how they work) and here Is the BP Clean-Up Creating A Toxic Soup in the Gulf?
Older veterans who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are almost twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related dementias as veterans without PTSD, a study shows.
Do Green Building Standards Minimize Human Health Concerns? – A new report argues that green building standards are weighted too heavily toward energy conservation
The gold standard for certifying “green” buildings fails to place enough emphasis on human health and needs to be upgraded, according to a new report from an environmental health group.
The standard – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED – is weighted more heavily toward energy conservation and not enough toward health protection, skewing green-design criteria, concluded Environmental and Human Health, Inc., a Connecticut-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting human health from environmental harms.
“They have to be given great credit for work on energy conservation. And there clearly are environmental quality and health benefits that will accrue from conservation efforts,” said John Wargo, professor of risk analysis and environmental policy at Yale University and a lead author of the report, released in May
As Health Reform Kicks in Obama will tout $250 health-care rebate in town hall meeting with seniors
As cap slows leak, officials battle ‘hundreds or thousands of patches of oil’
As 15,000 barrels are recovered per day, more skimmers are sought to mop up oil on the ocean’s surface. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen says the challenge now is cleaning up a ‘massive collection’ of small spills.
President Barack Obama would have fired BP’s CEO
…President Barack Obama would have fired BP’s CEO Tony Hayward over controversial comments downplaying the Gulf oil spill — if the executive had been working for him.
During an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC’s TODAY broadcast Tuesday, the president added his voice to calls for Hayward’s resignation amid claims from a former EPA lawyer that BP is a “recurring environmental criminal.”
Blight-resistant GM potatoes field trial begins
Science and environment reporter, BBC News Diseased potato plant Researchers say the GM potatoes will drastically cut the use of fungicides
A field trial of a genetically modified (GM) variety of potato resistant to “late blight” – a major threat to the crop – has begun in eastern England.
The global annual cost of crops lost to the disease is estimated to be £3.5bn.
The trial, carried out by scientists from The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL), will last three years.
Anti-GM campaigners criticised the trials, saying it was possible to grow blight-resistant potatoes using conventional methods.
The project’s research team said it was necessary to carry out the field trial in order to test the plants’ resistance to naturally occuring pathogen Phytophthora infestans – the fungus-like organism that causes late blight in potatoes.
3.5 billion British pounds equals about $5 billion dollars. Some genetically modified crops might be necessary as the current world population increases from the current 6.4 billion people to 10 billion or more over the next decade.
tangledwing 